This unusual Pietà by Francesco Messina shows mother and son in
upright position. The vertical format underscores the great reverence
owed to and nobility of the two figures, and what they stand for. The
Madonna literally envelops her son from behind, grasping the tortured
body of her son with both hands. Her whole gesture is one of tender
love, infinite sadness and maternal reverence. Jesus stands tall and
unshaken, in spite of the visible exhaustion, the limpness of his arms
and hands, and his emaciated body. There is an aura of Don Quixote about
him, a mixture of vulnerability, resignation, and unbroken ilusión
(the Spanish word for conviction, enthusiasm, ideal). Jesus Christ is
facing evil and misery both as victor and combatant. Messina’s attention
is focused on the human aspects of salvation history, stressing pain and
suffering borne in great love and certitude of faith.

The Importance of the Pietà

The Pietà featuring maternal love beyond cross and death, is part of
the iconographic theme of the Mater Dolorosa, the grieving mother
standing at the foot of the cross of her son. The theme of the grieving
mother is universal. It can be traced to Sumerian (Inanna grieving for
Dumuzi), Babylonian (Ishtar grieving for Iammuz), and Egyptian culture
(Isis grieving for Osiris). There exist many variants of this theme in
Christian art: the Madonna with the bleeding heart; with one or up to
seven swords piercing her heart; the weeping Madonna; the Madonna of the
Seven Dolors (Prophecy of Simeon, Flight into Egypt, the Search for the
twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple, the Meeting with Jesus on the road
to Calvary, the Crucifixion scene, the Taking down from the Cross, and
the Burial of Jesus).

The most prominent of these themes is that of the Pietà. It developed
in the northern regions of Europe in the fourteenth century, became very
popular during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and again during the baroque
period. Various types developed beginning with Mary holding the upright
standing or sitting Jesus (1350), similar to Messina’s Pietà. In the
second half of the fourteenth century, Mary holds a childlike small Jesus on
her lap, later his body is placed horizontally on Mary’s knees
(beginning of the fifteenth century). During the second half of the
fifteenth century, the body of Christ is placed frontally on Mary’s
lap, whereas during the sixteenth century Jesus’ body is first shown in
diagonal position, and later at Mary’s feet leaning against her knees.

The Pietà is one of the more popular representations of the Madonna
during the 20th century. Marked by the sufferings of two world wars,
countless war memorials in countries like France, Germany, and Great
Britain adopted a secularized version of the Pietà to honor their dead (Epstein,Trades
Union Congress War Memorial, Congress House, Great Russell Street,
London). Countless also are the variations of the Pietà in Christian art
during the twentieth century. Not only devotional but also so-called great
art dealt with this theme.

Among the famous artists who painted the Mater Dolorosa is
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890). Although a work of the ninteenth century
(1889), it anticipates the many variations on this theme during the
twentieth
century. Rendered in the typical Van Gogh colors of blue and yellow, the
mother stretches her right arm out to the onlookers in a gesture
expressing a variety of emotions: helplessness and accusation, but also
invitation to partake in her sorrow. The group of the sorrowing mother
with the pitiful corpse of her son is placed in a landscape suggestive
of desolation and loneliness. Mary, in this painting as well as in
Messina’s sculpture, is a model of “sympathy,” of the one who suffers
with her son. She is also the one who shared his passion of salvation.

This page, maintained by The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute,
Dayton, Ohio 45469-1390, and created by
Kris Sommers
, was last modified
Friday, 08/07/2009 16:06:35 EDT
by
Kris Sommers
. Please send any comments to jroten1@udayton.edu.